A blast of cold air jolted Zandrue awake. Then someone repeatedly hit her over the head—or was that someone inside her head trying to break out? Yes, that was more accurate. She was pretty certain the person in her head wasn’t giggling though, so that had to belong to someone on the outside.

She opened her eyes, which screamed to be shut again as soon as the bright sunlight hit them. She was sitting on a chair in front of the door to the balcony in Annai’s apartments. The door was open—the source of the cold air. The giggling was coming from behind her. She craned her neck round to see and nearly fell off the chair. The giggler switched to outright laughter.

Annai walked in front of her, still laughing, and shut the door. “Zandrue, dear, that was wonderful!”

Zandrue groaned. “What...what happened?”

“What do you think?” With another laugh, Annai strode past her again. “You drank far too much and passed out. Slept in that chair all night apparently, so I had an absolutely marvellous idea!”

Zandrue rose to her feet, clutching the chair to keep steady. She was starting to remember. It had been Tianna’s birthday. With Sinitïa still missing, the Queen had disallowed a larger celebration, so the three of them had just had drinks together—too many.

“I was very surprised when I managed to drag you all the way to the door without waking you, but I saw how blustery it is outside and I just knew the cold would wake you up.”

Zandrue forced herself to laugh. “Brilliant.”

Annai smiled and clapped her hands. “Wasn’t it though?” She strode up to Tianna, who was asleep on a couch, and patted her on the cheek. “Come on, Tianna, dear. You can’t sleep all day long. Things to do.”

Things to do. Zandrue had a ton of things to do. It was hard to get anything done when she had to spend nine tenths of her time entertaining Annai. Especially when, so far, she still wasn’t getting any closer to the Queen. When Annai spent time with her mother, it was without Zandrue or even Tianna, and the Queen never came to their concerts. There was pretty much no opportunity for the Queen to even become aware her daughter had struck up a friendship with Zandrue. Zandrue could only hope Annai might happen to mention it sometime while with her mother.

Tianna groaned and sat up.

Annai giggled. “You two look dreadful. You need to get your handmaids to fix you up good and fast.” Annai, of course, looked impeccable. She had obviously left them sleeping until after she had had her clothes, hair, and make-up for the day done.

“I don’t know if I can even move,” Tianna whined.

Annai tutted. “Oh nonsense, dear. You’ll be fine. It’s just a little hangover. Now then, if you’ll excuse me, I am on my way to breakfast with Mother, Lady Plavin, and her mother.” She picked up a fan from a nearby table.

Zandrue finally steadied her legs and took a few experimental steps forward. “Will Prince Malef be there too?”

Annai rolled her eyes and chuckled. “Oh, Zandrue, you really need to stop crushing on him. You’ve lost your chance. Besides, what would the horse guy think?”

“Rudiger?”

“Yes, him. I can never remember his name.”

“I was just…” Zandrue sighed. “Never mind. You’re absolutely right as always.”

Shortly after Lidda Plavin’s arrival in the Palace, she and Prince Malef had started courting one another. This worried Zandrue, and so she had been trying to learn whatever she could about the time the two were spending together. Unfortunately, her questions had made her look obsessed with Malef. She’d been able to use that a little to her advantage, but she could only take it so far.

Annai smiled and strolled to the door. “Wish me luck with that horrid Plavin woman. I’ll see you both in a couple hours. Be presentable!” One of her handmaids opened the door and she strolled out.

Zandrue stumbled over to a chair near Tianna and practically fell into it. “I keep telling myself, I’m not going to drink so much, and then I do. My head feels about to burst.”

Tianna collapsed onto her side of the couch. “Tell me about it. No sign of Laänne I see. Looks like she got away unscathed.”

Zandrue had made slow progress with Tianna, too. No matter how much Zandrue gave way to Tianna, the young woman remained convinced Zandrue was trying to get between her and Annai.

“Know any good hangover cures?” Tianna said.

That said, perhaps that question meant Zandrue was making some progress after all. “More drink.” They both laughed. It hurt Zandrue’s head though, so she stopped. Tianna didn’t laugh long either. “Sex helps too.”

“Like there’s a lot of that going on in my life,” Tianna said.

“Maybe you need to find someone.”

“There’s a dearth of eligible men in the Palace at the moment. Though there is this one lad in Lady Plavin’s entourage. He’s rather cute.”

“There you go,” Zandrue said.

“He’s a servant, Zandrue.”

“Is that really that big a problem?”

Tianna thought a moment. “Well, he is a senior servant and a Folith, so that’s something.” She sighed. “But Father would never approve. Besides, it would hardly solve my hangover problem right now. I’d better go get cleaned up. I’ll see you later.” She stood up and wobbled towards the door.

Well, some progress was better than none.

Zandrue sat there a few more moments before heading out herself. She stopped off briefly at her own apartments, only long enough to receive the barest minimum she could get away with to look “presentable”. Even that cost her a half hour.

She found Rudiger seated with Hang in the servants’ mess hall. They both had plates piled high with food in front of them. Zandrue slid into the seat beside Rudiger and snatched some bread and cheese from his plate.

“Hey, get your own,” he grumbled, but there was a smile on his face.

She nudged him with her elbow. “You’ve got loads. You can spare a little.”

Hang chuckled. “How you been, Zandrue?”

Zandrue mumbled her reply through a mouthful of bread.

“Where’d you get to last night?” Rudiger asked. “Partying all night again?” He winked at her.

“Tianna Friaz’s twenty-sixth birthday.”

“Wasn’t that last week?” Rudiger asked.

“No, that was her father’s birthday. Pay attention, Rudiger.” She nudged him with her elbow again, then grabbed his cup and took a drink of whatever was in it. It was a very weak ale. Not great, but served to wash down the bread. The food and drink in the Palace proper was a lot better, but Rudiger seemed to prefer it here.

He grabbed his cup back. “I do pay attention, but whose birthday is when doesn’t seem all that important.”

“They all bleed into each other after a while,” Hang said.

Zandrue ate a piece of cheese that turned out to be mouldy, so she found herself reaching for Rudiger’s cup again.

Hang laughed.

“So anyway,” Rudiger said, “everything’s set for tomorrow.”

Zandrue cleared her throat and coughed. “Good.”

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

“Captain DeSeloön will meet with us just after sunset,” Hang said. “Then we’ll get ourselves in place. You’re sure this guy will be there?”

Zandrue shook her head. “No, but he told Quilla he would, and he was there last time Quilla went.”

“But that was a couple weeks ago. What’s to say he hasn’t stopped by this point?” Hang stuffed some bread and mouldy cheese in his mouth.

“Nothing, but he doesn’t seem the type to give up. He’s intent on convincing Quilla to go with him, so I don’t think he’s going to stop waiting for her without telling her.”

Hang shrugged. “Yeah, perhaps. I still think we shouldn’t have waited so long.”

“If we’d gone too soon, he’d be suspicious.”

“He’s likely to be anyway.”

Zandrue smiled. “True, but the extra time makes the story more believable. As long as Quilla sells it, I think we’ll be fine.”

“Let’s hope so,” Hang said.

“Don’t worry. She’s got this.” Zandrue really hoped Quilla was going to be up to this. They were taking a big risk with what they were planning, and so much of it depended on Quilla’s acting ability, which was not something Zandrue would have labelled as one of her greater talents. Still, it was not like they had much other choice.

They had made no other progress in tracking down the Darkers in the Palace. No idea how they were getting around, no idea how Dyle somehow seemed to appear and disappear at will. All they had to go one was Dyle’s desire to connect with Quilla. Despite the insanity of it all, there had been sincerity in Dyle’s voice and stance when he’d spoken to Quilla.

Oh, Quilla had been furious when she found out Zandrue had followed her that night.

“You agreed that it had to be just me,” Quilla had said. “Dyle would be looking for others.”

“That’s what I said, yes,” Zandrue said, “and it was partially true. Dyle and his people were definitely looking for others coming with you.”

“Then why did you do it?”

“Because I knew I could hide from them.”

“You could have told me!”

Zandrue had shaken her head. “If you’d known, you would have been subconsciously looking for me. Dyle would have noticed and it would be game over. No, you had to believe you were alone, but there was no way I was letting you go there alone.”

Quilla had eventually agreed, and had then come up with this idea a couple days later. Zandrue had needed time to be convinced, but eventually had agreed. The only way they were going to learn anything was direct from Dyle, and he would only say anything if Quilla agreed to go with him. So that was what was going to happen.

Zandrue nudged Rudiger again, and when he looked at her, she crooked her finger at him. He leaned over so that she could give him a quick kiss. Then she slid off the bench. “I need to check in on Quilla before my meeting with Ardon, so I better get going.” She pointed at Rudiger. “See you tonight.” She pointed at Hang. “See you...tomorrow night, I guess.”

Before leaving, she grabbed a couple more chunks of bread and cheese, inspecting each piece of cheese first to make sure it wasn’t mouldy. Then she gave Rudiger another quick kiss and hurried off.

There had been another snowfall last night and not enough time for it to be packed down, so she had to trudge through it to cross the north courtyard. There were a couple of footprint trails from servants and guards passing back and forth, and she tried to stick to those. She was pretty sure she used the same one now that she had used to get to the mess hall in the first place.

She had just passed the western pool with the statue of Nature, when a lone figure came out of the Palace and started down the steps into the courtyard. This would hardly be anything unusual, except that the person was just in the process of wrapping a shawl around her head against the cold. For a moment, Zandrue had a clear view of the pale, freckled face, and sandy brown hair. There was still some distance between them, but there was little doubting who it was: Tianna.

There could be numerous reasons why Tianna might be coming out here right now, though Zandrue couldn’t think of many. If Tianna wasn’t with Annai, she was generally either attending to her father and mother—neither of whom ever stepped outside of the Palace as far as Zandrue could tell—or preparing for the next time she got together with Annai. Perhaps she had taken Zandrue’s advice and was going to see the lad from Lady Plavin’s entourage. That might explain why she was looking about furtively like she didn’t want to be recognised by the wrong people.

Zandrue kept her course without deviating. Bundled up against the weather as she was, it was unlikely Tianna would recognise her, but a sudden change in direction might draw attention.

Tianna headed directly towards the east side of the courtyard and one of the many archways leading through the wall into the rest of the grounds. There were government buildings that way. It was possible Tianna had business at one of them, though she had never shown much inclination towards the actual running of Arnor.

As Tianna passed through the archway, Zandrue sighed. Curiosity made her want to follow, but she only had about an hour before her meeting with Ardon, and she needed to talk to Quilla first. Plus, whatever Tianna was doing probably had a perfectly innocent explanation.

To hell with it.

Tianna doing something alone was just too strange to pass up. Zandrue could talk to Quilla after her meeting with Ardon.

She hurried across the courtyard as best she could in the thick snow. She wanted to keep some distance between her and Tianna, but she also couldn’t lose sight of her. Once she reached the arch, she could see Tianna was still following the road straight ahead. The government buildings were to the left, so she wasn’t going there.

To the right was the Crown Prince Garden, which took up almost as much area as the Palace itself. It was bordered by tall bushes that formed a wall, which had a couple interruptions by small buildings that provided arched entrances to the garden. Farther along this way were a conservatory to the right and the vineyard and orangery to the left. At the far end, there was also a building that doubled as both a concert hall and theatre. Could Tianna be heading there in the hopes of setting up a proper recital for them? The concert hall was generally used by professional musicians and actors who performed for the Royal Family. However, perhaps Annai and Tianna had greater ambitions than small, impromptu concerts put on in the Palace.

But Tianna didn’t seem to be heading to the concert hall either, as she turned right at the path between the Crown Prince Garden and the conservatory. Zandrue hurried forward so as not to lose sight of her. When she reached the intersection and looked around the corner, there was no sign of Tianna.

What the hell?

Neither the conservatory nor the garden had an entrance along this way, so Tianna couldn’t have gone inside either. Due to the tall bushes and the conservatory wall providing a shield from the weather, the road here had less snow on it, so perhaps Tianna had sped up considerably. Though she almost certainly would have needed to run to reach the other end and duck around the corner fast enough.

Zandrue paused for a moment. If she started running too, she could give away that she wasn’t a servant who just happened to be travelling in this direction. But her curiosity was even greater now. She decided to compromise and hurried at a near run down the path to the next intersection. She slowed down just before getting there and then looked in every direction as she walked out from the cover of the bushes and conservatory.

Shit. Still no sign of Tianna.

She turned around and walked back the way she’d come. The conservatory was surrounded by a stone wall with a marble balustrade at the top. It was conceivably possible Tianna had managed to climb it. It wasn’t too terribly slick with ice. A good jump might have let her grab hold of one of the balusters. On the other side, the thick bushes around the Crown Prince Garden were too packed together to squeeze between them without disturbing the careful arrangement and pruning. It would be obvious now if Tianna had done that. Climbing over them was also out as there was no way these bushes could hold the weight of someone even as small as Tianna. So the only option was the conservatory wall. But in that case, why not just go in through an actual entrance?

Unless Tianna knew Zandrue was following her.

Well, one way to find out. Zandrue backed up a bit, tested the ground’s slipperiness with her feet. Then she ran as fast as she dared at an angle to the wall and leapt. She just managed to grab one of the balusters, and pulled herself up onto the top of the balustrade. Anyone working inside or passing nearby would be able to see her easily in this position, so she needed to make this quick.

The conservatory on the other side was not a single building, but a collection of smaller glasshouses in rows, and taking up about as much area as the Crown Prince Garden. There were a couple people moving about between the glasshouses, and the shadowy outlines of a few more moved about inside them. Luckily, no one seemed to be looking in Zandrue’s direction.

There was no sign of Tianna, but unfortunately, there had been enough time now for her to have gone inside one of the glasshouses.

Zandrue took a quick look in both directions along the base of the wall. There were no immediately apparent footprints in the snow, though there were places where the snow was packed down enough that a footprint wouldn’t be noticeable from where she was.

There was also no one in the immediate vicinity in this stretch, so Zandrue swung her legs over the top of the balustrade, then pushed herself off. She landed on the ground with ease, and looked down to see how much of a mark she’d made in the snow. A bit. Tianna was smaller than Zandrue so might not have left as much of a mark, but hopefully, there would be some sign of her passage.

Zandrue walked along the wall, heading to the north side. If Tianna had wanted to get out of sight as quickly as possible, she would have jumped the wall right away, closer to the north end, though not right at the end. She would have wanted to be far enough down that the bushes surrounding the Crown Prince Garden would block Zandrue from seeing her.

The snow was less packed along this part of the wall, and there was a section that was just a little more disturbed than the snow immediately surrounding it. Zandrue stopped close to it and knelt to examine it more closely. The snow showed some barely discernible footprints leading away from the disturbed area, but not to it.

So Tianna had jumped the wall.

Which meant she’d known she was being followed and was trying to get away. She was also more athletic than Zandrue had realised. Had Tianna recognised her? Or had she just deduced she was being followed by someone? And why would she be worried about someone following her?

There was a possible answer to that last question, and if it was correct, Zandrue could kick herself. It would mean one of the Darkers she had been searching for had been right under her nose the whole time. Tianna was definitely in a position to have been able to let Darkers into the grounds and the Palace itself. She was also close enough to one of the princesses of the land to have some influence on her, and her father had the ear of the Queen. Could her father be a Darker too? He would certainly have greater resources for helping the Darkers remain unseen, though that was hardly damning evidence. He could just as likely be innocent and unaware of Tianna’s involvement. For that matter, it wasn’t yet possible to be certain Tianna was a Darker. She could just be up to some other illicit activity she didn’t want anyone else to know about.

Zandrue set out in the direction of the tracks. It wasn’t possible to follow them directly for long until they passed into a much more heavily traversed area. However, they started by heading along the north wall—probably towards the first arched exit up ahead. It was unlikely the conservatory was Tianna’s intended destination, so it made sense she would head out as soon as possible.

Zandrue also wasn’t certain what the rules were regarding who was allowed to be in here, so it was probably for the best she leave now. Besides, she’d lost Tianna now and it wasn’t worth trying to find her again. She would see her later when they got together with Annai again.

A pair of gardeners came out of one of the nearby glasshouses. They watched her for a moment, and Zandrue gave them a wave. Then they went on their way, and Zandrue relaxed. She hurried out of the conservatory and headed back to the Palace.

With luck, Tianna hadn’t recognised who was following her. If she had...well, that could make things really awkward.